Ruffling or gathering attachment for sewing-machines



(No Model.) I 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. RUNDQUIST.

RUPFLING 0R GATHERING ATTACHMENT FORSEWING MAGHINES.

No. 328,904. Patented Oct. 20,1885,

4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Oct. 20, 1885.-

(No Model.)

W RUNDQUIST BUFFLING 0R GATHERING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

, W. RUNDQUIST. RUFFLING 0B GATHERING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.

No. 328,904. Patented Oct. 20, 1885.

(No Model.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 4. W. RUNDQUIST.

RUPFLING OR GATHERING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES. No. 328,904.

Patented Oct. 20, 1885.

ild n 0; a, a; ffijW/M Q lUnirnn rains ATTENT triers.

WVILLIAM RUNDQUIST, OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS.

RUFFLING 0R GATHERING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

QPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 328,904, dated October 20, 1885.

Application filed June 30, 1885. Serial No. 170,281. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM RUNDQUIST, of Elgin, in the county of Kane, and in the State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Ruffling or Gathering Attachments for Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an enlarged perspective view of my device from the right-hand inner side. Fig. 2 is alike View of the same from the lower side. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of said device from the front as arranged for use upon a seWingmachiue. Fig. 4 is a plan View of the spring-bar employed for regulating the length of stitch; and Figs. 5 and 6 are side elevations and show, respectively, the extreme forward and rearward positions of the rufflerblade.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

The design of my invention is to enable gathering and ruffling to be easily and effectively done upon large or small garments without change of attachment; and to this end it consists, principally, in the means employed for varying the length of motion of the ruffierblade, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter shown. I

It consists, further, in the device as constructed in combination with the connecting parts of a sewing-machine, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

In the carrying of my invention into effect I employ a presser-foot, A, which has the necessary general form to adapt it for use upon the presser-bar B of any desired machine, and upon its inner or right-hand side has a horizontal extension, a, that has, preferably, a width of about one-half inch and a length of about two inches. Between said extensionplate and said presser-foot is avertical flange, a, that has a height of about one-eighth of an inch and a length equal to the length of the former.

Resting upon the extension'plate a is a ruf- Tier-blade slide, which is composed of aplate, G, that corresponds in width to the space between the flange a and the edge of said plate, has a length of about one-half inch greater than the same, and is connected therewith and adapted to slide longitudinally thereon by means of two studs, a, which pass downward through two longitudinally-elongated slots, 0, that are provided in said slide.

At the front end of the slide Ois an arm, 0, which extends laterally across in front of the presser-foot A, and has secured to it one end of a spring ruffler-blade, D. Said blade has its opposite end toothed, and is provided within said end with a longitudinally inward-extending slot, d, to enable it to clear the needle E when moved to the rear limit of its motion. Said toothed slotted end is adapted to pass beneath the front end of said presser-foot, for which purpose the latter at such point is rounded outward and upward.

The slide 0 is reciprocated longitudinally by the needle-bar F, and such result is accomplished by the following-described means,viz: Extending upward and forward from or near the rear end of the slide 0 is an arm, o which has pivoted to its upper end one endof a bar, G, that from thence extends downward nearly to said slide, and is provided with a centrallylocated longitudinal slot, g, having such width as to enable it to receive the head of the set screw f of said needle-bar. To the lower end of the slotted bar G is pivoted one end of a bar, H, which from thence extends rearward through a guide or housing, I, and operates to hold said lower end in the desired position. Said bar H has secured to its front end one end of a bar, h, of sheet metal, which from thence extends rearward beside the same, and has such outward spring as to cause it to bear with a yielding pressure against the adjacent side of said housing. The upper edge of said spring-bar is provided with a series of teeth, h, which are each adapted to engage with a corresponding lug, t, that projects horizontally inward from said housing, as seen in Fig. 4. The inward projection of said lug is sufficient only to enable it to engage with said teeth when said spring-bar is pressed against the adjacent side of said housing, so that by pressing the rear end of the former against said bar H it will be released from engagement with said locking-lug and left free to be moved longitudinally to the desired position, after which, by releasing said spring-bar, it

. with said lug.

As constructed and combined withasewingmachine the movements of the needle-bar will cause its set-screw to travel the length of the slotted bar, and in consequence of the deviation of the latter from a vertical line it will be moved backward and forward, and will carry with it the slide and ruftler-blade. To increase or diminish the length of motion of said ruftler-blade, the inclination of said slotted bar is correspondingly increased or dimin- 4 ished by the manipulation of the locking-bar.

In connection with the mechanism shown I use a separator-plate or gathering-table, K, which, as seen in Fig. 3, is adapted to be placed over the needle-plate L of a sewingmachine, and is held in place thereon by means of two downward-turned lugs, 70, that'are relatively arranged to engage with two of the screw-holes within the bed-plate M of said machine, after which I preferably use, in ad dition to said lugs, a screw, N, such as is usually employed for fastening attachments upon a machine, which screw is passed through a slot, is, in said separator-plate into a threaded opening in said bed-plate; but such screw is not indispensable, as said lugs insure the horizontal position of said gathering-table, and the presser-foot alone will hold it down upon the bed-plate.

The portion of the separator-plate directly beneath the presser-foot-A is separated from the body of the latter by means of a cut, k and the rear'end of such portion notched to permit of the passage of the needle.

:June, 1885.

The device thus constructed is operated in the usual way, the fabric being passed between theseparator-plate and ruffler-blade and gathered into folds by the latter immediately in front of the needle.

Having thus fully set forth the nature and merits of my invention, what I claim is- 1. As a means for varying the length of movement of the ruffler-blade, and in combination therewith, the longitudinally -s1otted bar G, which is pivoted at its upper end, the bar H, pivoted at one end to the lower end of said bar G, and from thence passing through the guide or housing I, the springbar h, having the teeth h, and the locking-lug 2' within said guide, substantially as and for the purpose shown.

2. As a means for ruffling or gathering faband for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto setmy hand this 23d day of WILLIAM RUNDQUIST. Witnesses:

O. E. BOTSFORD,

O. H. NYE. 

